When You Eat Only Salad Everyday, This Is What Happens To Your Body

Salad is the one dish that most likely comes to mind when you think about healthy eating. After all, what could be better for you than leafy greens and crunchy vegetables accompanied by a nice lean protein?

We're not talking about your grandmother's salad either, with only iceberg lettuce, a few shreds of carrots, and stale, square shaped croutons out of a bag. Rather, this is salad 2.0, with lots of fresh, dark greens, a diverse array of colorful vegetables, lean proteins like grilled salmon or a well-seasoned chicken breast, complex carbs like quinoa, and a tasty dressing that's not loaded with unhealthy fats. Bring on the avocado, chickpeas, and sunflower seeds, too!

When you have a well-balanced salad that hits all of your nutritional needs, do you really need anything else on the menu? Well, if you've found that you've hit your stride by eating only salad every day, you might be surprised to learn just how healthy it is for you. So read on to find out what happens to your body when you have a healthy salad for all three meals. Just be sure to avoid everything that makes your "healthy" salad unhealthy.

It may be a little bit taboo to talk about, especially at the dinner table, but ensuring that you're getting enough fiber in your diet is super important. Fortunately that's something that eating salads can help with, according to Andrea Berez, a registered dietitian. "You will become more regular because you are eating a high-fiber diet," she told The List. "Eating fiber-rich foods helps move the contents of the large intestine along more quickly. The RDA for fiber is 25g/day for women and 38g/day for men. One should increase fiber gradually or risk abdominal discomfort and bloating." So be mindful of what your intake is, and make sure you're balancing it properly with other foods.

In particular, foods to include in your salad with lots of fiber are green peas, broccoli, turnip greens, quinoa, brown rice, split peas, lentils, and beans, according to the Mayo Clinic. The more you change it up, the less boring it will be, too.

Make no mistake about it: Dark, leafy greens are super good for your body. So if you're filling up your salad bowl with them regularly, you're going to notice that your muscle performance is improving, according to certified personal trainer and nutritionist Jamie Hickey. "Maybe Popeye knew what he was talking about," he quipped. "The nutrients found in spinach and other greens not only help to build strong bones, they also help to improve the performance of mitochondria — little structures inside our cells that help to produce energy, as well as inform and power our muscles." That can certainly make leg day at the gym a whole lot easier, for sure.

Additionally, if you're looking to build muscle mass, there's a wide variety of ingredients that you can include in your salads to help, including eggs, salmon, edamame, shrimp, chickpeas, tofu, almonds, cottage cheese, quinoa, and tuna, according to Healthline. That leaves a lot of room for variation, too!

In addition to helping you get your daily recommended dose of fiber, eating salads can improve your overall digestive health as well, according to Heidi Moretti, a registered dietitian. "You will feel better digestion, especially from foods like carrots, broccoli, radishes, celery, cilantro, and more," she told The List. "These foods support healthy antioxidants, which balance out toxins in the gut." That's two reasons that your intestines will thank you for your salad-happy ways.

Additionally, if you're playing your cards right, salads provide you with other elements that keep your colon in tip-top shape. "Most salads have a good balance of nutrients, like fibers and vitamins, that also help fuel the digestive cells," she continued. "Salads also often have probiotic foods on them, such as aged cheeses, apple cider vinegar, or yogurt, which help support a happy belly." And a happy belly means a happier you.

Are you someone who eats lots of carbohydrates and high fat foods? Do you find yourself crashing out fairly often, unable to make it through the day? If so, switching to a diet with lots of salad in it might help you regain the spring in your step, according to registered dietician Kristen Carli. "By eating a salad composed of non-starchy vegetables, healthy fats, and a source of protein, you are consuming a low glycemic meal that will supply a steady stream of energy to your body instead of the common energy crash associated with an unbalanced meal," she shared. Sounds like a real relief!

So if you're aiming to specifically eat a low-glycemic diet, be sure to load up your salad with apples, peaches, berries, beans, and fish, according to Harvard Medical School. Add healthy fats like almonds, walnuts, pecans, and avocados in measured amounts, and avoid trans fats altogether. Lastly, make sure any carbs that you're eating are in their natural state, like millet, brown rice, and barley. Then dig in!

Let's face it: losing weight isn't easy for the majority of people, according to U.S. News & World Report. For one, foods that are bad for us taste good, such as processed sugar, processed carbs, and high-fat foods. It doesn't help that these foods are widely available in seconds at a variety of fast food restaurants like McDonald's and Burger King, either.

But that doesn't mean losing weight is impossible, especially if you're mindful of what you're eating on a day-to-day basis. And since salads are by nature heavy on the veg, eating a lot of them might be a great way to shed unwanted pounds, according to Kristen Carli, as registered dietician. "Because this nutrient-dense balanced meal also happens to be lower in calories, it is likely you will also see weight loss," she revealed. "Being at a calorie deficit will lead to weight loss, but since you are eating vegetable-packed meal, you will likely not be lacking any necessary vitamins and minerals." That certainly sounds like the right way to do it!

It's important to make sure that you get the right amount of vitamins and minerals in your diet, according to the National Institutes of Health. To that end, eating salad is a great way to do just that, according to Amanda A. Kostro Miller, a registered dietitian. "You can get a wide variety of vitamins and minerals," she told The List. "Salads can be a mixing pot of nutrients, a well-rounded salad having 4+ food groups in one meal!"

Additionally, Miller noted that salads can contain other beneficial ingredients. "If your salad is colorful from fruits and veggies, you can get a great antioxidant profile since different antioxidants come from different-colored fruits/veggies," she continued. "If you have healthy fats from oil-based dressings and/or fatty fish, you can get heart-healthy fats." Miller also suggested mixing up your proteins, switching between plant-based and animal-based sources, in order to diversify your amino acid profile.

While there are very clearly lots of benefits you reap from eating salad every day, nearly every expert we spoke to expressed concern about the lack of food variety you'd get eating only salad every day. In fact, eating only salad can have some consequences, according to Catherine Devlin, a licensed clinical psychologist. "Restricting your eating to one type of food, like salad, creates a deprivation effect," she told The List. "When we are deprived of variety, we are more vulnerable to over-eating. When I see clients eat salad every day, they start to crave heavier foods and generally feel out of control when they do decide to eat these foods." She added that this can lead to weight cycling, which isn't good for your heart.

To that end, you would benefit from more diversity in your diet, according to registered dietician Heidi Moretti. "This is especially true if you live in a cold climate," she explained. "It is probably best to serve your salad with a nice cup of warm chicken and vegetable soup in this case." Variety is the spice of life, after all!